know, for a variety of reasons but the biggest was that I felt nothing for her, not even physically - nothing." Robert was clearly not impressed much by this.
"Fuck! All you need is a little friction to get things going. Christ all mighty! ” He paused and then continued, asking sarcastically
"You're holding out for true love are you?" Jarrod could hardly reply to that. He stared back without saying anything. Robert shook his head, taking silence for assent
"Unbelievable! What are you, a fucking teenage girl?" He turned around and, mumbling some further obscenities, walked down the corridor. Without looking back he called out
“ You're a lost cause mate." Then he turned into his own office - slamming the door behind him.
Chapter 9 – The Department of Hate
Abaddon turned up again a few hours later. He was cautious and apologetic. He wanted to see if the Lord Beelzebub was ready for a tour of his department. Jarrod readily agreed to this – he was eager to find out as much as possible. The quicker they did this the quicker they could get out of here. Abaddon didn’t seem too enthusiastic about Cassandra accompanying them but of course he had no choice. Once outside the apartment he led them along a long corridor. He seemed anxious to make an impression
“We’re heading for the main control room my Lord. We’re just going through the building as a short cut; we’ll enter from the side. I’ll show you the front entrance later if this pleases you my Lord.” Jarrod didn’t care and made no reply. Cassandra also said nothing, she seemed quite calm, looking about, just waiting to see what would happen next. Abaddon wouldn’t stop talking.
“We have five thousand three hundred and fifty seven demons working here directly My Lord. We have made a significant contribution to the current crisis.”
Jarrod stopped when he heard this; he turned and stared at Abaddon. Over the last year especially, the world had certainly seemed to be teetering on the brink of the abyss. There had been any number of terrorist bombings and attacks, escalating international tensions and open threats of terrifying proportion, the Israelis and the Iranians screaming at each other as they continued their mobilisations, more nuclear tests in many countries and yet more North Korean missile launches and underground nuclear tests, even initial limited skirmishes between American, Russian and Chinese combat troops in Kyrgyzstan - a three way conflict, dangerously unpredictable. Huge naval fleets were moving into position everywhere. In most countries around the world there had been series of ongoing mass protests often turning into violent riots – put down only after days of terror by baton wielding storm troopers, though in many cases with canons and machine guns - leaving thousands dead at a time. There had been the beginnings of food shortages and widespread hording and looting, financial and political systems fragmenting, violent and murderous rhetoric and propaganda from all sources at all levels. There was a level of anxiety and anguish Jarrod had never seen before. In the past it would have meant war on a massive scale – opportunistic politicians and generals riding and further provoking the hysteria, safely from the rear. He could remember from his study of history the widespread relief, even ebullience, across Europe when World War 1 was declared on July 28 1914, a vast collective sigh of, “finally, let’s get it on”. At least twenty million people were murdered in the next four years. Now with modern weapons – nuclear, chemical, biological – a hundred times that many could be dead in a few hours and the devastated Earth would never recover. Surely only the criminally insane would even contemplate any action that could possibly lead to this. Anything could so easily escalate out of control. Unfortunately these types seemed to exist in abundance and often enough they were the ones who ended up in charge.
"Fuck! All you need is a little friction to get things going. Christ all mighty! ” He paused and then continued, asking sarcastically
"You're holding out for true love are you?" Jarrod could hardly reply to that. He stared back without saying anything. Robert shook his head, taking silence for assent
"Unbelievable! What are you, a fucking teenage girl?" He turned around and, mumbling some further obscenities, walked down the corridor. Without looking back he called out
“ You're a lost cause mate." Then he turned into his own office - slamming the door behind him.
Chapter 9 – The Department of Hate
Abaddon turned up again a few hours later. He was cautious and apologetic. He wanted to see if the Lord Beelzebub was ready for a tour of his department. Jarrod readily agreed to this – he was eager to find out as much as possible. The quicker they did this the quicker they could get out of here. Abaddon didn’t seem too enthusiastic about Cassandra accompanying them but of course he had no choice. Once outside the apartment he led them along a long corridor. He seemed anxious to make an impression
“We’re heading for the main control room my Lord. We’re just going through the building as a short cut; we’ll enter from the side. I’ll show you the front entrance later if this pleases you my Lord.” Jarrod didn’t care and made no reply. Cassandra also said nothing, she seemed quite calm, looking about, just waiting to see what would happen next. Abaddon wouldn’t stop talking.
“We have five thousand three hundred and fifty seven demons working here directly My Lord. We have made a significant contribution to the current crisis.”
Jarrod stopped when he heard this; he turned and stared at Abaddon. Over the last year especially, the world had certainly seemed to be teetering on the brink of the abyss. There had been any number of terrorist bombings and attacks, escalating international tensions and open threats of terrifying proportion, the Israelis and the Iranians screaming at each other as they continued their mobilisations, more nuclear tests in many countries and yet more North Korean missile launches and underground nuclear tests, even initial limited skirmishes between American, Russian and Chinese combat troops in Kyrgyzstan - a three way conflict, dangerously unpredictable. Huge naval fleets were moving into position everywhere. In most countries around the world there had been series of ongoing mass protests often turning into violent riots – put down only after days of terror by baton wielding storm troopers, though in many cases with canons and machine guns - leaving thousands dead at a time. There had been the beginnings of food shortages and widespread hording and looting, financial and political systems fragmenting, violent and murderous rhetoric and propaganda from all sources at all levels. There was a level of anxiety and anguish Jarrod had never seen before. In the past it would have meant war on a massive scale – opportunistic politicians and generals riding and further provoking the hysteria, safely from the rear. He could remember from his study of history the widespread relief, even ebullience, across Europe when World War 1 was declared on July 28 1914, a vast collective sigh of, “finally, let’s get it on”. At least twenty million people were murdered in the next four years. Now with modern weapons – nuclear, chemical, biological – a hundred times that many could be dead in a few hours and the devastated Earth would never recover. Surely only the criminally insane would even contemplate any action that could possibly lead to this. Anything could so easily escalate out of control. Unfortunately these types seemed to exist in abundance and often enough they were the ones who ended up in charge.
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